Change in Alabama's offensive approach can be seen through the lens of one player

Jalen Hurts hung back in the pocket and waited, surveying the scene. Irv Smith Jr. was in the process of running a slow-developing skinny post route toward the end zone.

As he glanced at the crowd of bodies in front of him, Hurts never lost sight of Alabama's junior tight end, and when Smith cut toward the goal post the quarterback fired the ball into his hands to complete a 10-yard touchdown play Saturday during the Crimson Tide's 57-7 rout of Arkansas State.

"When the game comes," Smith said, "you want to have fun and get the ball."

This season -- more frequently than ever before -- Smith has. He has been targeted seven times, making six catches for 80 yards and producing the one score he had this past weekend. The stat line is not too dissimilar from the one Smith concocted over the course of 14 games in 2017, when he snagged 14 passes for 128 yards and reached the end zone three times.

The emergence of Smith as a primary receiving option has coincided with a metamorphosis in offensive strategy. So far this season, Alabama has made a more concerted effort to attack opponents vertically than it did at this same time last year.

Although the Tide's top two quarterbacks, Tua Tagovailoa and Hurts, have only unleashed eight more passes than they did through this date in 2017, the amount of throws that traveled ten yards or more in the air has nearly doubled from 11 to 21, according to ProFootballFocus.com

At the same time, Alabama has become more reluctant to lean on its screen game -- cutting back on its diet of attempts directed to players positioned behind the line of scrimmage by roughly 15 percent.

This shift in approach has helped augment Smith's role as a receiving threat.

He's run routes on 45 percent of his snaps -- a six-percent increase from 2017, when he mostly served as an in-line blocker and a facilitator for Alabama's running game.

Before the Tide faced Louisville in the season opener, head coach Nick Saban dabbled in a bit of foreshadowing on his weekly radio show when he mentioned that Smith had the most complete skill-set among the team's tight ends.

Smith then singed Louisville on a 32-yard reception off a perfectly-executed wheel route, setting up a touchdown in the process.

"I think just as tight ends, we're really trying to open up our game, become more of a viable option in passing situations," said tight end Hale Hentges. "As we make more plays in that situation, hopefully they can throw us some more balls. But if they don't, that's OK. But as you can see, Irv Smith has been playing great. He's had a few catches go his way, a big touchdown last week, so there's definitely opportunity there. We're just going to continue to work hard and hopefully get more."

That seems to be a distinct possibility. Saban said Arkansas State ran split-safety coverages, which allowed Alabama to exploit the middle of the field in soft zones where tight ends are more likely to operate. Other teams figure to employ a similar defensive scheme as the Red Wolves, because playing man against Alabama's speedy receiving corps figures to be a losing proposition.

If that indeed happens, Smith -- and Hentges, too -- stand to benefit.

"To touch the ball is always fun and to get everyone involved gets the team going and gets everyone wanting to play faster and go out there and have fun," Smith said.

He seems to be doing that.

After catching his touchdown pass Saturday, Smith shimmied in the end zone, where he was mobbed by his teammates.

It probably won't be the last time that happens this season for a player who has stepped out of the shadows and into the fore.

Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin